Tuesday, February 24, 2009

As you may know, today is Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday), the eve of the Lenten Season. Known as Karneval in Cologne, Fasching in Bavaria, and Fasnet in southwestern Germany and parts of Switzerland, traces of the tradition have come to Pennsylvania via the German-speaking progenitors of the Pennsylvania Dutch (about whom we will talk in week 4). The word for "donut" in PA Dutch is "Fasnacht", from "Fastnacht" (< 'eve of the fasting season'). At this time it was traditional for people to use up some food items (lard, sugar, etc.) they would be forgoing during Lent, hence the practice of making donuts. "Fasnacht" has entered regional Pennsylvania English (somewhat like "bismarck", from the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, I believe). At left is a photo I received from Joshua Brown, a graduate student in German Linguistics at Penn State University. Although State College, PA, is located outside of the traditional Dutch Country, that hasn't stopped the Dunkin Donuts there from capitalizing on their day in the sun!

You can also access an article on fasnachts from the Morning Call in Allentown, PA, here.

Subscribe Now: Feed Icon

Like us on Facebook!

We've leapt from the 19th to the 21st century -- check us out on Facebook!

25 Years or 325 Years

The Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MKI) turned 25 years old in October of 2008. Sounds like a long time, but not much compared to the fact that the first German settlement in North America (Germantown, Pennsylvania) was established some 325 years ago.

We've started this blog as a way to showcase some of the work we're doing. We also see it as an opportunity to examine the influence immigrants have had on America—-after all, except for the indigenous people of the Americas, we're all of immigrant stock here.

We'll post some ideas that are running through our heads these days; we hope you'll find them of interest and will feel like offering your own comments.